Frustrated parents tell Education Ministry: Get your act together, fix Mt Hope school

As the second week of school comes to a close, parents of students at the Mt Hope Secondary School are concerned about their children’s safety because of its dilapidated state, and are calling on the Education Ministry to rectify the structural issues.

They voiced their concerns to Newsday outside the school on September 12.

Parents have lamented the flooding issues, exposed electrical wires, termite infestation and leaking toilets and have questioned why the ministry has not taken swift action.

One father of a form-three student said to the ministry, “Get your act together and see about the children.

“If it was some other, prestigious school, something would have been done already."

He said in the three years that his child has been a student, there had been no improvement in the condition of the school.

“I am worried about my child’s safety. From what we saw with some of the classrooms, the roofs are deplorable and are falling in. Plus there is exposed electrical (wiring).

"We don’t know how that could change from being safe to extremely dangerous. You don’t know if a child might touch it or if something acts off. Any parent will be concerned.”

Roxanne Villaroel complained about the faulty toilets and called for the school to be upgraded.

“The state of the school is not suitable for children. I have a girl and the toilets are not working, it is leaking and the doors cannot close.

"When rain falls it is flooding. Children are hopping around and they could slip and fall.

"Electrical wires are exposed, they can get shocked.

“There is a lot to be done at the school. I was a past pupil here and now I am 37 years old, and nothing has been done or upgraded. No paint or nothing. It’s the same thing and a little worse.

Villaroel said the children need to be in a school in which they were comfortable.

"Woodlice are eating the furniture. How will the children sit and do work? They would be uneasy.”

Villaroel noted the dilapidated state of the school’s new building, which was next to the current building. Newsday noticed overgrown grass on the building. The paint is peeling and fading and parts of the roof are falling in.

“Look at what is happening to the new school. Everything is gone. Whatever was done is now abandoned. Everything that was put out for that school, bandits took it.”

Marlee Francis said the overwhelming dust had affected asthmatic students who had been away from school as a result.

She said some parents had been posting complaints on social media in an attempt to prompt some action from the ministry.

“We have been trying to get attention. No repairs have been done and nothing is being done. They blocked some of the forms three and five blocks and they have shifted to other places because they are just not safe.”

She said the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) protest on September 2 had resulted in a meeting between the school’s principal and an Education Ministry representative, but
could not confirm if there had been more communication.

Contacted for comment, TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Martin Lum Kin took note of the structural issues at Mt Hope Secondary and said the ministry's school-repair programmes were not having a significant effect in addressing pressing concerns.

“The repair programmes are having some effect, but it is not a desirable one. It is not even a dent
– it is a nick.

"The ministry has admitted that over 30 per cent of the secondary schools have outlived their lifespan. What they are doing is putting bandages to try to hold cracks and other issues in the system.

"We don’t require these bandages. We need these issues dealt with at the core level.

“TTUTA has boldly said the ministry should be drawing from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund. Why not look at this for the education system? We believe the ministry will get support if they utilise it.

"The Ministry of Education, by and large, is supposed to have a monitoring system. The School Issue Management System (SIMS) is one such system. When there are issues of emergency or maintenance that will prevent issues from escalating, our officials are not afforded this option because of the lack of funding from the ministry.”

SIMS is an online platform developed for all schools to inform the ministry of issues it needs to resolve.

Lum Kin said TTUTA would continue to support its members by highlighting the issues facing all schools.

“We believe the nation is not aware of the severity of the situation. Our educators have been propping the system and making do with what they have to have the students educated. They will continue to do this because the students need to be educated.

"We will continue to advise, and I know the educators will take as much as they can. When they have had enough, we will be there for our members and we will represent them to the best of our ability and to take it to any institution that we need to.”

Newsday contacted Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly for comment on addressing the concerns at the school.

She said, “Extensive refurbishment works were approved for Mt Hope Secondary earlier this year. A contractor is currently being procured by the Maintenance and Training Security Company to implement these.”

She did not say when the repairs would start.

(Written by Kristen-Le Chelle Winchester)